The Middletown North Girls Track and Field Team made their way to A-North Division Championships on April 17th, 2024 and they dominated the competition without a doubt. The 2024 Championships were held at Christian Brothers Academy. Though it was cold and rainy, our lady lions did not fail to disappoint, winning the title of the 2024 A- North Division Girls Champions.
Every girl who competed worked their hardest and was a valuable asset to the team. Athletes like Savannah Kenny, Helena Szep, Lauren Dorazio, Olivia Panzino, Melissa Smitowski, Ava Gonzalez, Janell Sampson, Haylee Rodola, and many others were key factors in the team’s win.
Runner and senior at MHSN, Savannah Kenny gave an outstanding performance by placing 3rd in the 200 meter with a time of 27.34 and 2nd in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 16.48. Helena Szep who is also a runner and sophomore at MHSN placed 3rd in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:31.69. Another runner and junior at North, Lauren Dorazio, placed 1st in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:15.95. When asking Dorazio about her performance, she said “I did the 400 hurdles, which at first I was not thrilled about.
Not a lot of people do 400 hurdles, it is a brutal race to run, but in the end I am glad I did it because while it isn’t my strongest event, I was able to win it for my team. While it was a tough race I was able to score a lot of points and help my team get to our goal; which was to win. I love the team and I would do anything to help them win”. Our runners gave it their all and placed top 3, giving the MHSN team a much needed push.
But that wasn’t all, the field events were where the North girls really shined. Junior and javelin thrower, Janell Sampson came to play with her throw of 95 ‘3 putting her in first place. When asked about her throw she said, “Javelin is important to me because it shows the strength that people say I don’t have. Winning the division championships was a big home run for me because I proved everyone wrong saying that I was lazy and never gonna throw far and that it is just a dumb event but look where it got me”.
Junior, Lyla Sickler also dominated girls discus with a throw of 93 ‘2 putting her in second place and giving her a new PR. Olivia Panzino placed 1st in pole vault clearing a height of 8 feet giving the girls team another boost shooting them to the top of the leaderboard.
Overall, every girl competed and put their all into their performance giving us another win in the books. All the coaches could not be prouder of the long practices and tiring workouts that each and every athlete put into making this team better and stronger. When asking head track and cross country coach, Mr. Brock Silvestri about the win he said, “The girls won the A-North title for the first time since 2022. The girls team was also a full team effort with many girls doing 2-3 events. After the track events were concluded it was a tight battle between us and 3 other teams. As the field event points started coming we scored some big points in our throwing events and jumps, which led to the girls winning big over everyone to clinch the title”.
With that being said, we can not wait to see what our lady lions do in the future and it is safe to say they are one of the most hardworking groups of girls out there.
